Stepfather sentenced to life as case against infant's mother reviewed

Billy Dean Cotten was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. He was convicted on May 4 of second-degree murder in the March 2014 death of Aiden Wayne Dyson, his 9-month-old stepson.
Wochit

"I love you," cried Billy Dean Cotten to his family as he was led out of a Rapides Parish courtroom Thursday afternoon to begin a life sentence for the death of his 9-month-old stepson.

The mandatory sentence, to be served without probation, parole or suspension, was the end of an emotional hearing in which Cotten's defense attorney asked for leniency and his mother-in-law urged him to deal with his anger issues and to get right with God.

Cotten initially was charged with first-degree murder in the March 2014 death of Aiden Wayne Dyson, who had been brought to an Alexandria hospital via ambulance. The Alexandria Police Department soon was called because medical officials deemed the boy's injuries suspicious.

The first-degree murder charges against Cotten and the child's mother, Michelle Darlene Hayden Cotten, were amended in April to second-degree murder. Michelle Cotten testified against her husband and was the first to give a victim impact statement at the sentencing.

The charge against her is still pending, and Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Carter said she is reviewing the case.

"You are a sick person, Billy Cotten, a very sick person," Michelle told him as she looked at him sitting at the defense table in 9th Judicial District Judge Mary Lauve Doggett's courtroom.

"You stole Aiden not just from me, but from everyone who ever met him."

She tearfully spoke of all the firsts that she would miss from her son — his first steps, his first day of school. She also said that he'd lost the couple's daughter, who was born after Aiden's death.

"But we have to forgive you," she said. "Not for you, but for us."

Michelle Cotten's mother, Helen King, was the last to speak. She told Billy Cotten that she didn't want to believe that he could have hurt Aiden, but hearing the testimony from physicians at his trial last week changed her mind.

She said she knew that Cotten had physically abused her daughter several times and said she had feared for Michelle Cotten's safety. King told him that he intimidated Michelle Cotten into not speaking with investigators, which she said led to her daughter also being charged in the case.

She also said investigators said he had told them that Aiden hit his head on a television stand, which she never had heard from Cotten.

"Then I knew you were lying, Billy," said King.

She sobbed as she held up a photo of Aiden for Doggett to see, describing how her daughter told how Aiden would wake up screaming repeatedly on the ride to the hospital and while hospitalized, only to pass out.

"But he wasn't passing out," she weeped. "He was dying."

She urged him to face the truth for his own sanity and for his soul.

"If you love him as much as you say, you're gonna want to be with him," she said. "Billy, you gotta get right."

Cotten, who had been crying as others spoke, elected to speak before Doggett sentenced him. He looked at Michelle Cotten and then at Aiden's paternal grandmother, Dana Huddleston, as he began.

"Aiden was the light of my life," he cried. "I would have never have hurt him. I don't know what happened, but I know I didn't do it."

He said that even the birth of his daughter could not fill the hole left when Aiden died.

"I loved him so much. He was my life. To this day, I cry," he said, sitting down and putting his forehead on the defense table.

Huddleston had difficulty speaking through her sobs as she described her first grandchild. She said she never agreed with Michelle Cotten on anything and that she was sorry for his family, but said she had to forgive him for the sake of her own beliefs.

Still, she told Cotten he should never be free again. Huddleston also lamented the life that Aiden might have led.

"He will never know what it's like to hold his own child because you took it from him," she said.

Cotten's mother, Connie Cotten, defended her son, calling him "loving" and "caring." And she said he never hurt Aiden, no matter what anybody said. She said her son always wanted to be a father and a police officer.

"Your honor, don't take my son," she exclaimed.

Cotten's sister, Tanya Guillot, and an uncle, Cleon Cotten, also spoke in support of him. After all the statements, his defense attorney, Adam Huddleston, urged Doggett to use her judicial powers to show leniency to Cotten. He said it was well established that a sentence, although mandatory, could be deemed excessive.

He also pointed to reservations that he said some jurors had about the mandatory life sentence. He said some through it was too severe even though they believed the prosecution had proved their case.

But Carter, who prosecuted the case with fellow Assistant District Attorney John Giordano, said Doggett had no choice but to sentence Cotten to life. There are no winners in the case, she said.

Carter also pointed out that the state made several plea deal offers to Cotten, all of which he rejected. The state had no choice but to pursue the second-degree murder charge, she said.

"The court must follow the law."

Doggett agreed, and Cotten's mother sobbed as she pronounced the life sentence.